Quests Yet to be Had
by Natsumi Wakabe
Summary: Just a cute mini fluffy moment of a young Bilbo painting his adventures, with his mother looking on. First Hobbit story.


_Disclaimer: Wakabe Writing Firm doesn't own The Hobbit_

_A/N: SH! Nobody say anything, but I kidnapped Miss Natsumi so she could write this. I hope Isuzu doesn't kill me for this._

_So, originally, this was supposed to come out before Finger Painting Fun, but Mad Madame Moriah tends to be a bit more pushy once she gets out of her office. So this came after instead. It's our first Hobbit story. We hope you enjoy and please be gentle. Many thanks- Sephora (Trainee Secretary, Wakabe Writing Firm)_

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"What are you painting, sweetheart?" Bilbo turned at the question, eyes bright with joy, a sparkle of excitement twinkling in those impossible depths of green.

"My adventure!" His smile was just as infectious as the red paint that was running down his hands, trailing to his elbows, which had at some point, also painted a stripe of brilliance across his cheek.

"Oh?" Belladonna Baggins née Took smiled fondly at her son as she looked at the painting. "And where are you going?"

"To explore the world!"

"And who is that with you?"

"Gandalf!"

"Gandalf the wandering wizard? Why would you want to go on an adventure with him?" she questioned Bilbo, wondering why it was that her child would choose him as a companion over one of his friends.

"Cuz he knows where the elves are!"

"So you want to see the elves?"

"A ha!"

"What about the cities of men? Or the kingdoms of dwarves? Wouldn't you like to see those too?" Bilbo actually stopped painting and smiling, brows furrowed close and tight. Then, he shook his head, sending curls everywhere before giving his declaration of favoritism.

"But elves are better!" Belladonna laughed.

"I'm sure that many a dwarf would disagree with you there, my own."

"But they are," Bilbo whined.

"And why is that?"

"Because they're so tall! And pretty!"

"So can others who are not elves be." That seemed to give her son pause. He looked unsure for a moment, then turned large hazel green eyes of the cute variety on his mother.

"But... but aren't they prettier?"

"I suppose so," she acknowledged. "But there is beauty to be found almost everywhere. Why, I'm sure that the kingdoms of the dwarves have a great and grand beauty of their own. After all, they are master craftsmen, delving deep into mountains and creating many objects of great beauty, intricate and detailed. Do not dismiss them simply because they cannot reach the same height as the elves. Men, too, have their charms. From what I have heard, the White City is a very beautiful place."

"White City?"

"It was the home of kings long gone, where now the Stewards of Gondor look after the people until the day the kings of old return." Belladonna looked down at Bilbo, raising an eyebrow but saying nothing as he took his little colorful and wet fingers and clung to her apron.

"Have you been there?"

"To the White City? No, I have not traveled that far."

"Not even with Gandalf?" It seemed impossible that his adventurous mother, who told stories of elves in Rivendell, forests with trees that moved, and a sacred pond with fae, that she would have not gone further than that. She had always seemed to know so many people from far off lands, so it seemed natural that she would have gone so far east.

She smiled at the question before she confessed. "Not even during my longest adventures with Gandalf."

"Then I'll go! And then I can bring you back pictures! And stories! I could tell you stories!"

"I would like that very much. Now, however, I do believe that you and I are going to have a little adventure of our own." His smile became bigger, face alit with anticipation and wonder.

"A bath." His face fell, and Belladonna couldn't keep from laughing.

"A bath?" he whined.

"Yes. Now, come along."

The two of them left the room, an incomplete painting of a hobbit's dream for adventure drying, never to be completed for 45 years, when one old and crafty wizard would bring adventure to the door of a respectable hobbit.

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_This is dedicated to my dearest JEP_


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